Kip Moore: “I’m Gonna Offend Some People”

Jon Freeman | Published: Mar 28, 2014

Kip Moore shocked a few people in the video for his song “Young Love,” and it was merely by doing something millions of people do every day. Right at the start, Kip exits a vehicle and takes a long drag off a lit cigarette.

Try to contain your outrage.

Kip isn’t really a regular smoker, he says—typically he only does it when he’s writing—but felt that it served the story in the song, where a young bad boy falls for a good girl. “My whole deal with even doing that in that video was, when I was a teenager I would smoke from time to time,” he says. “It was supposed to be everything how I did it back then.”

Even still, Kip says that his willingness to smoke on camera might be an indication of what’s in store for his upcoming album. “That’s kind of a thing with the new record, too,” he explains. “I’m gonna offend some people. You come to a place in your artist career where you just don’t worry about that s--t anymore, you just don’t.”

Kip says this time around he’s taking bigger risks with his writing, which may alienate some people. “I’m a lot more open on this record than I was the last record and I want to be more open as an artist with everything,” he muses. “And you realize you’re gonna lose fans, but you’re gonna gain fans, too. And I’m finally just OK with that. I no longer care about appeasing everyone.”

Read more about the making of Kip’s new video in the April 7 issue of Country Weekly, on stands now.